Trucker (2008)

How sad is this?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Diane Ford (Michelle Monaghan) is an independent long haul trucker. She lives alone and has one night stands. Runner (Nathan Fillion) is her married drinking buddy. Her ex-husband Len Bonner (Benjamin Bratt) is in the hospital with cancer. His girlfriend Jenny Bell drops off Diane's son Peter (Jimmy Bennett) for three weeks. Both are estranged from each other. With schedules to keep, Diane has to take Peter on the road.It's a small indie with Monaghan doing her some of her best acting. It's an unrelenting role. She does a good job although it's not so terrific that it elevates the movie into the stratosphere. The story is a meandering trip of personal growth to find her maternal side. Her tough outer shell has no easy answers. It's a solid indie.

The storyline could read like a role-reversal remake of the 1986 Sylvester Stallone film 'Over The Top'. On the surface it would appear to be just that, but this is a much deeper, more subtle treatise on the reunification of long-separated parent and child. There might have been high melodrama and histrionics in a such a piece as this. Instead, we are treated to a lean, spare script which spares the viewer from being talked down to and repetitively spoon-fed information that can be clearly seen quickly, and are presented with quickly but carefully and accurately sketched characters who are exquisitely portrayed by a truly talented cast. The pathos is definitely made more palatable by brief spates of levity between the characters. Michelle Monaghan and Jimmy Bennett, as the two central actors, are well matched.

Grossly under-rated film. True its theme is old stuff, but Michelle's performance should have garnered more attention. I just saw it on TV and didn't even know it existed. I hope the cable exposure gets it some more attention. Nathan had a great relaxed feeling to his acting and was pretty charming as the friend. Ben Bratt was surprisingly believable in the thankless role of the Dad... better writing could have elevated his role, but that would require more depth than the writer may have at this stage...I was riveted to Michelle and didn't know how it would end up decision-wise...I thought the set up for her decision was a bit over contrived to show her change.. could have been far more subtle . Her beautiful facial work could have handled it without the extra drama. Might have been more powerful.Still... she deserved at least an indie nomination..

What embodies the lonely, self-dependent person than the trucker? Hours upon hours of driving with nothing but some music and one's own thoughts. We've seen this protagonist before, just not in the form of the beautiful Diane (Michelle Monaghan) cussing and driving a truck. The opening scene with Diane getting a quick sexual fix, pulling out a cigarette and hitting the road without saying more than a word or two is not exactly original character development, but James Mottern's debut film hits a notably real chord in all its silence and familiarity.When Diane gets stuck with Peter, an 11-year-old boy who as it turns out is the son she abandoned an infancy, suddenly "Trucker" has the workings of an "unlikely pair go on a road trip comedy." Fortunately, that tired concept of two people who don't like each forming a bond pretty much ends after the first third of the film and everything becomes much more real. After all, Diane is watching Peter because his dad, her ex-husband, is dying of colon cancer -- not your typical circumstance. And rather than Diane and Peter slowly reconnecting as mother and son throughout, there are much more ups and downs.Occasionally "Trucker" will dip into cliché, namely in its handling of mother-son dialogue. Peter is a smart kid with real kid issues of wanting to be loved and showing it by provoking adults, but a couple times Mottern has him drift into the kid who says something intelligent and revealing about the older character who is frozen by the comment and considers it in a lingering camera shot at the end of the scene. Mottern keeps the film quiet and subtle for so much of it and these techniques put little cracks into his vision.But Mottern must be thankful for this strong core cast. Monaghan excels in her first dramatic starring role. Diane is not the most complicated of characters to solve, but Monaghan keeps her from ever becoming an open book. Her lone wolf speak-your-mind mentality is much more at odds with the small kernel of her that wants to make meaningful connections with the people who have suddenly become close to her. The young Jimmy Bennett also impresses as Peter, having a lot more scenes requiring self-awareness and meaningful discussion that most child actors. Nathan Fillion, who plays Diane's friend Runner also works his charms and Benjamin Bratt as the dying father earns our sympathy quickly despite his minimal screen time."Trucker" could have done with half the number of driving in a truck to contemplative indie music transition sequences, but that's just the kind of film it is. It has that timeless, expected story line of two people who slowly forge a relationship they didn't think they wanted but both need, yet some unpredictable moments and solid performances throughout that keep its message fresh a create genuine sympathy for its characters.~Steven CVisit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com